


There’s a Kid Version of Betelgeuse at our Door! What Do we Do?

by GothicDeetz



Series: Kid!Beej AU [1]
Category: Beetlejuice - Perfect/Brown & King
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Doctor Who References, Families of Choice, Family, Found Family, Gen, Kid Fic, Memory Loss, Multi, Post-Canon, Recovered Memories, Tags Contain Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:00:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25883248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GothicDeetz/pseuds/GothicDeetz
Summary: A kid version of Betelgeuse shows up at the house one day and now the Maitland-Deetzes must teach him about the human world when they realize he doesn’t remember them while also figuring out how he lost his memory in the first place.
Relationships: Adam Maitland/Barbara Maitland, Beetlejuice & Charles Deetz & Delia Deetz & Lydia Deetz & Adam Maitland & Barbara Maitland, Charles Deetz/Delia Deetz
Series: Kid!Beej AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1893883
Comments: 10
Kudos: 37





	1. There’s a Kid Betelgeuse at our Door! What Do we Do?

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoy this story and kudos and comments are appreciated.

Life after the whole Betelgeuse incident those few months ago had gone back to normal (Well, normal wasn't the word any of the members of the Maitland-Deetz family would use to describe their family). With Betelgeuse gone back to the Netherworld to search for his dad, they knew they had nothing to worry about. They hadn't seen him since... and that was all about to change soon.

There was a tiny, shaking knock on the door.

"I'll get it!" Barbara said chipperly, before opening the door. She gasped.

On the other side of the door stood what appeared to be a small version of the demon that had plagued them all those months ago. He looked hurt and confused as he stared up at Barbara. She did not know what to do. She just stood there staring at him for what seemed like a few minutes.

Eventually, she recomposed herself. "Uh, guys, I think you need to come over here NOW!"

The rest of the family ran over to see what was going on, and they reacted about the same way as Barbara had.

The kid demon was REALLY confused, and scared. Who were these people, and why were they so mad at him? Would they try to hurt him? He had a feeling that he knew, or would know, these people, but couldn't figure out any of the details.

"WHAT is he doing HERE?!" barked Charles.

Lydia, perhaps the most concerned out of all of them, kneeled down in front of the kid version of Betelgeuse. "Beej? Is that you."

"I think so but I don't know." He backed away. "Who are you people?"

"I don't think he remembers us," said Barbara as Lydia stood up and glanced over at her and the rest of the family. "Which is strange. You guys think something may have happened to him and may have caused him to be like this?"

"I dunno what happened... Mom had stuck me in the cellar for something, and then, all of a sudden, I was here. It's really weird, and not in the cool weird way."

A lightbulb went off in Lydia's mind. "Wait, your mom... Juno!" she swore under her breath, and then, another thought popped up. "Are you hurt?"

"Yeah." He held up his right arm, which had a large gaping wound down the side of it that was probably caused by Juno abusing him before sticking him in the cellar.

Lydia hissed in sympathy.

"We can't just leave him out here," she said to the rest of her family. "He's hurt, he's scared, he's nervous. I don't think it's right to turn him away."

"Lydia, are you saying we have to allow the demon who terrorized us and tried to green card marry you, even if it's just a child version of him, to live here?" said her dad, his eyes wide. The rest of the adults nodded in agreement, all clearly nervous about allowing Betelgeuse to stay with them.

"What are we supposed to do? Leave him to bleed out?"

The rest of the family sighed. They had no choice but to let him stay.

Once inside, the family sat the small demon down.

Barbara sighed. "I'll go get the first aid kit."

She returned with the first aid kit and kneeled down in front of Betelgeuse, who nervously scooted away from her and closed his eyes.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” said Barbara calmly. “I promise.”

Lydia half-smiled, squeezing the small demon's hand reassuringly.

Betelgeuse yelped when Barbara started cleaning up the cut on his arm, and Lydia just held onto him.

“It’s okay,” reassured Lydia. “It’s okay.”

A few hour long minutes passed, before Barbara closed the first aid kit, and smiled kindly at the still frightened demon. Despite him being Betelgeuse, she couldn't NOT try to calm the kid down.

"Done."

"Th-th-thanks."

The kid yawned, looking exhausted.

He fell asleep immediately.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but, he's honestly kinda adorable." Delia grinned.

The others knew they had to agree.

And that was the day that started making this already strange family even more so.


	2. How to Adapt to a Kid Demon Living in your Home 101

As it turned out for the Maitland-Deetzes, getting used to having a kid version of the demon who terrorized them all was hard. Everywhere at least one of the five members of the family went, he would often pop up and ask a dozen questions and that in itself was starting to annoy them.

Yesterday, Charles had straight up yelled at Betelgeuse when the kid demon would not stop pestering him about what he was doing and that upset the kid demon. And Charles still managed to apologize.

At the moment, the small demon was trying to clean up the house in an effort to make everyone a bit less pissed at him. Keyword TRYING.

Poor kid was still hurt, and was exhausted.

He stumbled over his feet, barely avoiding knocking over a glass. He didn't want to do that again. Last time he had, his mom had beaten the shit out of him.

The girl, Lydia, seemed the least mad at him, which Betelgeuse liked. She seemed familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on how he knew her.

"We probably meet in the future. Just a bunch of wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey stuff," he thought.

Lydia stood in the doorway, smiling at the small demon. "Hey, Kid!Beej, come here."

He nodded, running towards the doorway and tripping over his own feet.

Lydia kneeled down. "Kid!Beej, are you okay?"

"Y-y-y-yeah..."

She helped him up and scooped him into her arms, carrying him up to her bedroom. On the way up, she ran into Adam and Barbara.

Betelgeuse shrunk back a bit into her arms, still scared.

"Hey, Lydia," said Adam.

"Aw, we won't hurt you." Barbara reached a hand out to ruffle Betelgeuse's hair but the kid demon shifted and closed his eyes.

Barbara smiled sadly, before thinking of something.

"Hey, are either of you hungry?"

Lydia and Betelgeuse nodded in unison.

"I'll go get something." The ghost-mom smiled, booping Lydia on the nose.

She returned with two apples, one for Lydia and one for Betelgeuse. Handing them to them, she and Adam headed into the kitchen for a moment whilst Lydia continued on her way up to her bedroom with the kid demon still in her arms. She set him down on her bed and he immediately began jumping on it whilst waving the Apple he was holding about. Lydia chuckled softly at his silliness.

"Be careful!" she said, still smiling.

He wasn't. With a super high jump, he launched himself off the bed and landed into Lydia's arms. She'd had to put the Apple Barbara gave her off to side to catch him. She sat him on the ground and booped his nose.

The two of them laughed.

They were having so much fun to notice that there was a knock on the door at first. The moment Betelgeuse heard it, he dove under Lydia's bed and she sighed, turning her attention over towards her bedroom door.

"Who is it?"

"Delia!"

"Come in!"

Delia entered the room to the sight of Lydia sitting on her bed and kicking her legs back and forth. Betelgeuse was nowhere in sight. She could have sworn she heard him giggling as she walked up the stairs. Was she imagining things?

"Where's Betelgeuse?" Delia asked.

"Under my bed," said Lydia.

"Oh. Is he okay?"

"No. I think he's still scared of you and the rest of the family. You do tend to yell at him quite a lot. Even when he knows he didn't mean to cause trouble."

"Oh..."

Lydia slid off of her bed and stood off to the side to allow her stepmother to step over towards it. The life coach lifted up the covers and bent down to see under Lydia's bed. Staring back at her were Betelgeuse's nervous eyes.

"D-don't hurt me," the kid demon whimpered. "Don't yell at me."

A bright, warm smile flashed across Delia's face. "What makes you think that I'm going to hurt you? Much less yell at you?"

"You're scary." Betelgeuse scooted further away.

"I'm sorry. I'll try not to scare you."

That was enough to make the kid demon less nervous. Delia stood up and walked a few feet away as Betelgeuse emerged from his hiding place under Lydia's bed. Delia scooped the kid demon into her arms and carried him downstairs with Lydia following.

Betelgeuse looked around, glancing up at Delia occasionally. Adam, Barbara, and Charles were sat on the couch across from him, Delia and Lydia on either side of him. He looked nervous to be here, not really knowing the reason why.

The kid demon wasn't sure if they wanted to talk or if they were upset with and going to yell at him, the latter of which he hoped wouldn't happen.

"W-wh-why am I here?" he asked nervously.

"I don't know." Barbara sighed.

"Actually, we wanted to apologize to you for all that yelling," said Charles.

"Wh-why? I deserved i-it..." The small demon hung his head sadly.

"No. You didn't." Barbara stood up and moved over towards Betelgeuse, kneeling down in front of the kid demon and lifting his head up so he was looking her in the eyes. She had a warm, bright smile on her face and that seemed to calm Betelgeuse down.

He smiled back shyly.

It was very cute.

Barbara scooped Betelgeuse into her arms and moved back over to the couch, sitting down with him in her lap. Running a hand through his hair, she said, “Little Beej, from now on, we’re going to treat you like part of the family.”

“No more yelling?” he asked quietly.

“No more yelling,” affirmed Barbara.


	3. Family Fun Times

The family decided it was time for some fun. Adam got out one of his favorite board games and set it in the center of the living room.

The tiny demon was grinning adorably.

They started playing the game and, since they told the kid demon that they were going to treat him like part of the family from then on, they let him go first. Lydia handed him the dice and he just stared wonderingly at them.

"What's this?" he asked, looking to Lydia, who giggled.

"Those are dice. You shake them and then throw them, and whichever number of dots is up is the amount of spaces that you go."

"Ooh."

Betelgeuse was already laughing.

Barbara smiled at how happy the small demon was.

The game went pretty well. Lydia was getting bored, but it was worth it.

They'd packed up and Adam and Barbara had decided to allow kid!Beej to spend some time with them in the attic. Barbara scooped the kid demon into her arms and carried him upstairs with Adam following.

The kid still looked around in wonderment, happier than they'd ever seen him.

He explored the attic from top to bottom and the ghost couple eventually found him over near the window that led out to the roof. Before he could open it and climb outside, Barbara willed herself over to him and picked him up.

"What are we going outside to the roof for?" asked the female ghost, booping the kid demon on the nose and making him giggle.

"It looks cool! Besides, I might as well st-stay here... if I-I'm lucky, I'll get some stars..."

Barbara shook her head. "Honey, you don't have to sleep outside."

"Yeah," Adam added. "We'll talk with the Deetzes and see if we can find somewhere in the house where you can sleep."

Betelgeuse nodded and jumped out of Barbara's arms, starting to run around the attic and pretend he was a dog.

Barbara and Adam laughed at this.

He cartwheeled (successfully), and the ghosts clapped.

"Very well done, little Beej," said Barbara.

"Thanks."

The small demon was bouncing excitedly.

He'd nearly destroyed something precious to Adam in the attic and Adam had just enough time to swoop in and pick him up before any damage could be done.

"Sorry..." the kid muttered, realizing what had almost happened.

"It's okay. Wanna go downstairs and see what we can do about sleeping arrangements for you?" asked Adam, booping the kid demon on the nose.

Betelgeuse nodded.

They carried him downstairs and found all three Deetzes sitting together on the couch and watching tv. Well, the tv was on, it actually looked like they weren't paying attention. Delia had her eyes closed, her head resting against Charles' shoulder. Charles' head was leaned up against the couch and he was snoring away. Lydia had her head resting against the arm of the couch and she was also snoring away.

Careful not to wake them just yet, the Maitlands and little Beej slowly crept over towards the couch and stood in front of it, blocking the tv.

"What's that?"

Barbara and Adam turned to find the kid demon turned and staring directly at the tv, pointing a finger at it. Barbara scooped little Beej up into her arms and quietly whispered,

"That's a tv, silly."

"Ooooooooh."

Adam, although not wanting to wake the Deetzes, coughed and the three of them immediately woke up.

"Wha- what???" yawned Lydia.

"Heh." Adam rubbed the back of his neck, looking sheepish. "Sorry for waking you guys."

" 's fine."

"Did you guys need something?" Charles asked with a yawn, sitting upright and stretching his arms.

"Well, we had a thought. Beej needs a room, doesn't he?" Barbara nodded at her husband's statement.

"Well, we can give him the guest room. It won't be ready by tonight so, just for tonight, he will have to sleep in the attic with you guys," said Charles, thinking a bit.

"Don't we have those glow-in-the-dark ceiling star thingies?" Adam asked.

"Oh, right, we do!" Barbara grinned.

Barbara set little Betelgeuse down on the floor and went off to find them, Adam, Charles, and Delia watching as the kid demon stood up and went to climb up onto Lydia's lap, immediately falling asleep. Lydia couldn't help but smile, holding him close. Adam, Charles, and Delia all couldn't help but smile as well. This was the most adorable thing they'd ever seen.

Eventually, Barbara returned and set the glow-in-the-dark star decorations down, also smiling at the scene in front of her.

Barbara booped the kid on the nose.

"Sleep tight."


	4. Dear Lord This Demon-Child Needs Therapy

The kid demon couldn't sleep. He tossed and turned in the bed the Maitlands had set up for him. It was the middle of the night and little Beej had woken up sixty times in the past two hours.

Horrifying images, well, memories, flashed through his mind.

He let out an ear piercing scream and awoke the Maitlands.

They ran towards him, worried as hell.

Barbara scooped him up out of bed. "Little Beej, is everything okay?"

"N-n-n-n-no..."

He clung close to Barbara, clearly scared of something but the two worried ghosts weren't exactly sure what it was.

"What's wrong?" Adam asked softly.

"I-I-I had a nightmare," the kid demon managed to say, starting to shiver and shake.

"Oh, sweetie, I'm sorry. What was it about?" Barbara sat down on the kid demon's bed and ran a hand through his hair. It kinda and did remind her of all the times she and Adam helped Lydia out when she had a nightmare.

"M-my mom..."

"What was she doing?"

.

"She was mad at me... really mad..."

"Did she hurt you?" asked Adam, also sitting on the bed.

A nod.

Since they didn't need to sleep, they stayed with the terrified and shaking kid demon all night long, comforting him and making sure he was doing okay.

The next day...

The kid demon was jumping on the couch with Lydia watching and giggling whilst all the adults were in the kitchen, making breakfast. Both Lydia and kid Beej wanted pancakes that day, which seemed like a good idea. Well the Maitlands were mainly making the pancakes with their powers whilst Charles and Delia waited at the kitchen counter.

Little Beej stopped jumping on the couch and turned his attention over towards the two busy ghosts, fascinated by their powers. "They ghosts."

Lydia chuckled. "Yes, they're ghosts."

"I like ghosts! Leslie is super nice!"

"Leslie?" Lydia asked.

"Miss Argentina!"

"Oh."

The kid demon smiled.

He was pretty hyper.

He was bouncing around the living room and all four adults were trying to calm him down and avoid yelling. It did not go well, in Charles' case that is.

"ENOUGH!" Charles yelled.

Everyone else froze, turning to stare at him. His face was red and he seemed to be huffing and puffing. The kid demon suddenly became nervous, running over to where Lydia and the Maitlands were standing and hiding behind Barbara, peeking out at Charles.

"What was THAT for, dad?" demanded Lydia. She seemed to not be as equally red in the face like her dad was but she was just as upset and concerned for little Beej like Adam, Barbara, and Delia were.

"I-I... uh???" Charles backed away.

Delia led her husband out of the room, taking him upstairs. "Charles, calm down."

Beej was shaking.

"I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry-"

"It's okay." Barbara turned and kneeled down so she was looking kid Beej in the eye. "He's gone upstairs to calm down. Hopefully it won't happen again."

Lydia looked a bit upset. For some reason, she felt like she was at least partially at fault.

"Lydia, sweetheart, what's wrong?" asked Barbara as she and Adam turned to the upset looking teenager, the kid demon in the female ghost's arms.

"I feel like I'm at fault here," murmured the teenager.

Barbara handed little Beej to Adam and moved to pull Lydia into a hug. "Lydia, you aren't at fault here. You didn't do anything wrong."

Lydia nodded sadly as she wrapped her arms around Barbara, wet and hot tears still staining her face.

"It's ok, I've got you."

Charles was pacing around the room.

Delia watched him. He seemed to be a little calmer, which was good. Him yelling at kid Beej was unexpected. Did Charles forget that they had all agreed to no longer yell at the kid demon? It sure seemed that way.

"I can't believe I did that," Charles groaned, running a hand through his hair.

"Neither can I." Delia sighed, closing her eyes and shaking her head from side to side. "But it was an accident, Charles."

"And an accident I need to fix." Charles turned and headed downstairs, now completely calm, with Delia following closely behind him.

Beej shrunk back, terrified, as Charles walked back into the living room.

He hid behind Adam but the male ghost pushed him out from behind him and put him in front of Charles with his powers when the living male kneeled on the floor. Delia stood over near Barbara and Lydia, both of whom were still hugging.

"Little Beej," said Charles, reaching out a hand to touch the kid demon's shoulder, not really noticing him flinch away from the contact. "I am super sorry for yelling at you. It was a total accident and it never should've happened. Do you forgive me?"

The kid demon did not know what to say at first, but then jumped into Charles' arms with a smile on his face. "YES!"

Everyone smiled at the interaction, glad that everything could be sorted out.

Later...

The family was watching movies on the couch. Betelgeuse had been utterly fascinated by Disney films. Betelgeuse wanted to watch "Nightmare Before Christmas" as did Lydia and they were currently watching that.

"This is one of my favorites." Lydia smiled.

"I like it!" The kid cheered.

Soon, the movie was over and the Maitlands and the Deetzes looked over at the kid demon to find that he was asleep on the couch, his head resting against Lydia's leg.

"Aww," all four adults say at once.

Charles smiled, picking up the small demon.

He carried him upstairs to the guest room whilst everyone else watched with a smile on each of their faces.

"Sleep tight,” said Charles as he tucked the kid demon into his new bed.

And kid Beej really did have a good nap. No nightmares about his mom whatsoever.


	5. How did he Lose his Memory in the First Place?

Kid Beej had woken up from his nap and before he could bounce around the living room when he got downstairs, he was stopped by all four adults with a simple explanation of "We don't want to yell at you anymore and cause you to get nervous all over again".

He nodded, sitting down on the couch.

"What we doing right now?" asked the kid demon.

"Not much," Lydia responded. "Just looking for something."

"Ooooh... what is it. What you looking for?"

"We’re trying to figure out why you lost your memories."

"Oh."

They kept looking. Betelgeuse, who was incredibly understimulated, was flapping his hands around while they searched.

"Can you stop doing that," Barbara quietly reminded the small demon when she cast a glance in his direction. He seemed to stop almost immediately and was glancing back towards her with his head tilted to the side like a dog.

"Wait. Why did he have to stop flapping his hands? He's not near anything breakable, and he's probably understimulated. I flap my hands all the time, and you have no problem with it, so why should he be any different?" Lydia suddenly said, looking at Barbara.

Barbara shrugged.

"No, really, I'm serious. He shouldn't have to stop stimming for no reason."

"Stimming?"

"Fidgeting."

Barbara looked back over at kid Beej, who had started flapping his hands and fidgeting again and sighed. Maybe Lydia was right.

Lydia smiled.

"Ooh, this is interesting!" Adam said, looking through the Handbook. "How to properly treat wounds created by demonic knives."

Lydia rolled her eyes. "Pay attention, Adam!"

"Right, right. I'm sorry. I'm paying attention. Paying attention now."

He flipped through the handbook some more before finally finding what it was he was looking for.

"Aha! I found it!" Adam cheered.

The others, minus kid Beej, who was busy not paying attention, turned their heads over towards him to take a look. They were so busy that they didn't notice what the kid demon was about to do.

"What to do if a ghost or demon loses their memor-."

CRASH!

"Owwwwwwwww!" The tiny demon whined.

Lydia and Barbara both looked over to find the kid demon in a heap on the floor, a vase, broken into pieces, all over the floor next to him. The dirt and plants the vase had recently held were also spread all over the floor, the dirt in a huge pile. This particular vase was one of Barbara's favorites to use back when she was alive and it absolutely broke her unbeating heart to see it broken, in pieces, and all over the floor.

"My vase!" cried out Barbara as she stood up, directing the attention of the other three adults onto her.

"Little Beej, you okay?" asked Lydia, kneeling down next to the kid demon.

He was shaking.

"I-I'm s-sorry... I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry!"

The kid almost immediately started picking up the broken pieces of the vase, whimpering as they got stuck in his hands.

"Here... let me help you with that," said Barbara sweetly as she used her powers to remove the pieces of her old vase that were stuck in the kid demon's hands and cleaned the rest of it up.

Lydia hugged him.

"It's okay," she said quietly. "It's okay."

"I-I'm sorry... please don't be mad..."

"Why would we be mad at you? This vase is easily replaceable. I'm sure I can get Delia to get me a new one. Right Delia?" said Barbara gently with a smile.

“Yep!”

"We're not mad, don't worry."

Nervously, the kid demon nodded and scrambled back onto the couch with Barbara and Lydia following.

"Can we continue with talking about memory loss in a ghost/demon?" asked Adam, not in a rude way obviously.

"Yep."

"So anyway, as I was saying, what to do when a ghost or demon loses their memories," began Adam. "This can happen for a variety of reasons. The victim of memory-loss may have come from a time before the memories occurred. However, demons have some future seeing abilities. These can be thrown off by trauma and/or severe injury. There are certain demonic rituals that can create memory loss. You can find those and their counter-rituals on pages 472-478."

He turned to page 472.

"Hmm, let's see... memory restoration ritual - demons. There we go!" he cried triumphantly.

"Step one: those closest to a demon, form a circle around it," read out Barbara, a bit slightly confused. "Step two: prepare gold dust, water, and rock salt," she continued, before looking at the next step. Her face fell. "Oh no..."

Lydia looked up at her. "What?"

Barbara sighed. "Step three: prepare or summon a silver blade, create a small cut on the recipient's forehead, and combine a few drops of blood into the gold dust, water, and rock salt."

Lydia froze for a moment, before hitting her head against the wall.

"Oh, for fuck's sake, hasn't he been through enough?" she said to nobody in particular.

"What do we do?" Barbara questioned quietly, turning to the other adults.

"I don't know," Charles muttered.

"The best thing we can do is go through with it," Adam said sadly, rubbing the back of his head nervously.

The four of them looked over at Betelgeuse, who was nothing but nervous upon hearing what the adults of the Maitland-Deetz family were saying and Lydia, who was sat back on the couch and comforting the small demon.

"You think he'll let us get this close with a silver blade?" Adam asked, summoning said silver blade with his powers.

"There's only one way to find out," said Barbara.

The small boy was shaking a bit, but trying to steady his nerves.

"This is only going to hurt a little," Adam said calmly, moving the silver blade towards the kid demon's forehead.

He looked up at the rest of the family, sighed, and nodded.

The third step went fairly quickly, although Betelgeuse's breath hitched as the blade made contact with his forehead.

Lydia sat next to him, doing her best to help him calm down.

He held onto her closely and whimpered.

"Hey, it's gonna be ok. I've got you."

They placed the gold dust-water-rock salt (Barbara was more than happy to summon the gold dust and Delia was more than happy to go and get the rock salt (who knew she had some. No one in the family did)) compound into the kid demon's cut and he shut his eyes tight when it started to sting.

Lydia hugged him tighter.

"I've gotcha, kid."

"Gah! Fifteen minutes is too long," complained Delia.

"I know!" Barbara agreed.

The fifteen minutes they had to wait weren't that long. The fifteen minute timer Charles set went off. Betelgeuse looked up.

The incantation was actually fairly uncomplicated, but Lydia's heart still sank as her friend cried out in pain.

"I think this ritual hurt him a little too much," said the teen. "What do you guys think?"

The rest of the family murmured their agreement. Betelgeuse cried out in pain again.

"Did it work? Does he remember us?" Barbara had to ask.

"There's only one way to find out," said Adam, kneeling down in front of the kid demon.

Betelgeuse was shaking, but he looked up at Adam. A lightbulb went off in his head.

"I'm sorry... about everything that I did... you should've just left me to bleed out... I'm so, so, so, so, so, so, so sorry..."

Tears sprung from his eyes.

"Hey, hey, it's okay. We've already forgiven you. All of us." Adam gave the small demon a soft smile.

"Really?"

"Really."

Before he could blink, the rest of the family was hugging him.

"What are our names?" Adam had to ask when the five of them pulled away from Betelgeuse.

"Adam, Barbara, Delia, Charles, and Lydia!" the kid said triumphantly.

Happy, Lydia tackled the kid demon to the ground and hugged him tightly. "The old Beej is back!"

He, although his arms were short, hugged her back.

Adam and Charles high-fived. As did Barbara and Delia.

Suddenly, the kid yawned.

Lydia let go of him and Barbara scooped him up into her arms.

"Lydia, go get the first aid kit please. According to the handbook, neither demonic nor ghostly powers can properly treat a wound created by a silver knife,” she said.

‘Okay.”

Barbara carried kid Beej upstairs with Lydia, first aid kit in hand, and the rest of the family following behind.

The ghost sat him down on the bed, motioning for Lydia to pass her the first aid kit.

Lydia did and Barbara began applying a bandage to the cut on the kid demon’s forehead.

Betelgeuse looked up at Barbara, legs swinging.

“Babs...?”

“Hold still, sweetie,” the ghost said kindly.

"Oh. Ok."

He held still long enough for Barbara to finish applying the bandage. When she was done, he yawned and closed his eyes. Lydia tucked him into bed for a nap and she and her parents left the room. What they didn’t know was that something good would happen to Betelgeuse whilst he slept.

Boy would they be in for a big surprise.


	6. The Betelgeuse we Know and Love

When Betelgeuse woke up from his nap and got out of bed, he wasn't expecting Lydia to be sitting on top of it and staring at him with a mixed expression of confusion and happiness (though it was more happiness than confusion). The teen had a huge grin on her face and she was looking Betelgeuse up and down.

"Wha- what?" he asked, scratching the back of his head as he turned to look at her.

"Beej.... is it me or have you grown?" she had to ask.

He looked down at himself.

"Whoa. Guess I did!" He beamed.

Excitedly, Lydia grabbed a hold of his hand and dragged him downstairs and into the living room without a second choice. "Guys! Guys! Guys!"

"What is it Lydia- oh my god!"

"Hi," said Betelgeuse.

The same question ran through all four adults' minds as they approached a smiling Lydia and Betelgeuse. Adam chose to be the one who asked what they were all thinking.

"How did you get so big that fast?"

"Especially during a nap that short," added Barbara.

"Well, I guess that the ritual worked extra well," he replied.

"Does it still hurt?" Adam asked. "The cut from the silver blade?"

"Hurt? Not as much as before. It still stings... but just a little," said Betelgeuse.

"That's good."

Delia had a thought. "Wait, so, in human years, you're hundreds or thousands of years old. But, in demon terms, are you an adult, or a teen?"

"Teen."

Delia nodded.

Before they could continue with the conversation, a door to the Netherworld opened up and a Green skinned woman stepped out.

"Ah! Betelgeuse, there you are. I was looking all over the Netherworld for you."

"Les? What's going on?" He turned to her, confused.

"Right. It seems we have a group of troublemaking ghosts running rampant in the Netherworld," she explained. "We need you in the Netherworld to deal with them."

"Who are they, Leslie?" he asked.

"That's just it. I don't know. The officials didn't tell me. They just sent me to find you."

"So, what do ya need me to do?"

"Come back to the Netherworld with me," was Miss Argentina's instruction.

Behind Betelgeuse, all five members of the family's faces fell. He couldn't be leaving them again. Especially after all they did for him whilst he was in his child form. Lydia's eyes welled up with clear tears.

He turned to face them.

"Bye, guys. It's been fun but the Netherworld calls."

"No! Beej, no! Please stay!" cried out Lydia. "Don't leave us again!"

Betelgeuse reached out and ruffled a crying Lydia's hair. "I promise I'll come back someday but for now, I need to be in the Netherworld."

With that said he turned and left for the Netherworld with Miss Argentina, leaving a crying Lydia and her parents, who were comforting her, behind.

"I can't believe he's gone..." cried out Lydia, holding onto Barbara for comfort. "Again..."

"I know, honey, I know. But he did say that he'll come back, and I think that's a promise he'll keep. Because if he doesn't, we're going to the Netherworld and telling him off."

Lydia nodded.

Later, in the teen's room...

She was looking sadly at the crayon sketch that the demon had made of himself with the Maitland-Deetz family, with the words "MY FAMILY" scrawled on the top.

Tears poured from her eyes, dripping down onto the paper in her hands.

"God, I'm gonna miss that silly little demon."

Her attention was drawn to one of the walls of her bedroom, where a door to the Netherworld was open. Something flew out of it and the door slammed closed and disappeared just as soon as Lydia stood up.

“What’s this?” she asked herself as she bent down to pick up whatever was on her bedroom floor.

It was a note.

She picked it up, and began to read it.

"Dear fam, thank you for everything. Y'all are fucking awesome. I'm gonna miss you guys, but I'll probably be back in a few (human) months. See you then!"

Lydia smiled down at the note and then ran downstairs to show her parents.

She couldn’t wait to (probably) see her best demon friend a few months from now. It may be a long wait but she knew to be patient.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that’s it! There will be a few one shots that will tie into this story so keep an eye out for those. I hope you enjoyed reading this story and comments and kudos are appreciated. :).


End file.
